The dream in the dream in the dream in the dream
by sevenofmine
Summary: Perhaps Robert Fischer is not that innocent inheritor he pretends to be... Who is really dreaming? And how often? I have to admit it is a bit confusing...
1. Dream: Plane

Chapter 1

They entered the plane and stowed away the luggage. Robert Fischer passed. Dom Cobb watched him taking a seat and switching off his cell phone. He took his identity card, opened it. He read what he already knew: Robert Michael Fischer, Australian, born 17 Sept 73 in Sydney.

The plane started to fly. The 'fasten your seatbelt'-sign disappeared and Cobb leaned forward. 'Excuse me, I think this is yours', he said to Fischer and showed him the identity card. He took it surprised, controlled it, and said 'thanks'. 'I'm sorry, I looked into it. You are not coincidentally relative to Maurice Fischer, are you?' 'Yes, yeah, he…was my father', he said a bit distracted. 'Oh, my deepest sympathy.' He gave him a glass of water the stewardess had brought, not before pouring him something into, to make him sleep. Fischer looked out of the window and drank. He was sleeping very soon. Cobb and the others made themselves ready for dreaming, him too.

It was raining. He did not know how he came there exactly but he knew where he wanted to go. He called a taxi, it stopped. He stepped into it, at the same moment as somebody else. He wanted to complain but before he could say a word a man from the front passenger's seat turned around and pointed a gun toward him. 'Great', he said. He cursed himself. How could something like this happen to him? Something hit the taxi. They all ducked down. It was a bullet that had touched the car. Men were getting out of silver vans. Fischer and the man next to him ducked down, trying to protect their heads with their arms. There were people shooting at him. The taxi driver tried to drive away, hitting other cars, trying to avoid being shot. The men were firing, no machine guns, the bullets were too far away from each other, something else. It did not interest him, it interested him to get away from here. He just heard the shooting, trying to cover himself. He suddenly understood.

They got away. Finally. Fischer did not know how they managed it. He looked up again. Someone put a bag over his head so that he could not see anything. He felt the taxi stopping, then driving somewhere inside. Someone pulled him out of the car, it was not raining anymore. They were somewhere inside. The shooters, he heard his hijackers talking about them.

He was stronger than they thought. They did not know anything about him and that was his strength. He just had to play along until his protection grew strong enough to finish them all. He was trained. As they were, too. But they underestimated him.

He was brought somewhere, sat down. He waited. He waited until someone came in and pulled the bag from his head. He looked up to them. Two men with masks were staring at him. 'In the office of your father under his desk, there's his private safe. We need the combination', one of the men said. Robert sighed. 'I don't know anything about a safe', he said, not sounding nervous or weak. 'Doesn't mean you don't know the combination', the other man said and squatted in front of him. 'Tell us.' 'I don't know', Robert said. The man went away. 'A very safe source told us you knew', the other man said. 'What safe source?', Robert laughed. There was a scream. The man looked down to him. 'What's that?', Robert said, not impressed. 'Our source.' The screams repeated. Robert got nervous. 'Tell him to stop.' The man did not move. 'Let me talk to him. When he says I knew the code, I can find it out while talking to him.' Robert did not want Browning to be harmed. Browning was brought in, tied to the sink. The men went away again.

'Everything okay?', Robert asked concerned. 'They've been trying to open the safe for two days now. They somehow got access. I don't know the combination.' 'Then we're already two', Robert said worried. 'What? Maurice told me that after his death you'd be the only one to know? Perhaps he told you without telling you that it was the combination.'

They were talking. Cobb was concerned about Saito. He did not look well.

'I shall destroy my heritage?' He has gotten Robert so far. 'Why shall he propose something like that to me?' 'I don't know.' He had planted the first idea.

'The further we go into Fischer's subconscious, the further we go into yours', she said. He did not want to listen. He told her. She did not want to know.

They did not get what they wanted. They had to get further. They put a bag over his head again and put him into the van.

Now the journey could even begin.

Robert dozed off, all of sudden. They had given him something to sleep, that was his last thought.

They started to drive. 'Drive carefully. When we're down there, it's gonna be even more instable.' Yusuf nodded. All the others prepared themselves.

They were ready to enter the dream in the dream. The dream which was going to be more dangerous than before.

They fell asleep.


	2. Dream: Car

Chapter 2

'Am I boring you?' Robert looked up. 'I told you my story. It did not seem to please you.' 'I…I am very busy these days.' He looked back to his drink. 'Mr. Fischer, right?', a man said. Robert looked around.

'Who did you say, you were?' 'Mr. Charles. You actually must know who I am', Cobb lied. 'I am the boss of your security down here.' 'Hotel security?' 'No, a very special type of security. Subconscious.' 'Dreams? Extraction?' 'I am here to protect you', the man said. Robert was sure that something was not okay. He did not show it. The man looked somewhere else, as if he had seen a ghost. He turned back to him. 'I am here to protect you in case that someone tries to get access to your mind…by dreaming.' He started to whisper. 'You are not safe here.' Robert knew what he meant. He also knew that the person in front of him had no idea of who he was. How trained he was. 'They are after you', the man said. 'Unusual weather', he said. Robert looked outside. It was heavily pouring. The glass in his hands was trembling. 'You were educated for something like that', the man said. Robert knew that he was not Mr. Charles. He just did not allow him to find out that he knew. 'Nothing's real. You're in a dream.' Robert got nervous. Why? Why he? It was obvious that he was dreaming and inside him there were two parts. One part wanted to get away, take every chance the man offered, to believe everything: panic. The other part actually knew what was happening. That his dream was out of control. That he was in someone else's dream. There were extractors after him. Was the man in front of him an extractor? 'You're not real', Robert said determined. 'No, no, I'm a projection of your subconscious mind. I was sent here to protect you in case some extractors try to drag you into a dream', Cobb went on. It seemed like Fischer believed him.

Robert played along the nervous, panicking man who did not remember his training. 'Can you get me out of here?', he said. He wanted to know what the man in front of him wanted. He obviously was one of the extractors. Robert had to play perfectly his role. He needed to fool them all. He wanted to know what they wanted from him.

'Follow me', the man said and grabbed his arm. Together they started to escape, fast. They ran, into the next restrooms. 'Stay calm', the man said. 'We've got to work together, Mr. Fischer', he gave him a gun. Robert took him. Whoever the foreign man was, he was not working alone and they were very good organized. He took the gun. 'Remember your education', Cobb said. He hoped it worked.

Of course, Robert remembered his education. He knew that he was in danger. He had to play along, to find out what they wanted and to finally finish them off. 'What happened before this dream?', the man asked him. Robert thought about it. He could not remember well. Obviously a dream he was dreaming. 'There was a shooting', he said. 'Rain, I was kidnapped. A van…that's the gravity. That's why gravity doesn't work that well…I'm in a van, actually…there's something about a safe…god, I don't remember.' That was actually the truth. 'They want something about a safe. That's the reason why the extractors are after you.' 'The combination…they wanted to extract the combination out of my subconscious', Robert said. That was what the man in front of him wanted. The combination, he was one of them. Robert told himself not to panic. He was a perfect actor.

'We're in a hotel. Let's try it with room numbers. How is the combination? Please try to remember for me.' Robert knew he could not trust him. On the other side he really did not know the combination. He tried to remember. He needed to find out what they wanted. 'Five-two.' 'Good, let's go to fifth floor', Cobb said. He did not know how much time there was left. He needed the information.

They went along the floor. Robert looked around. He needed to remember. There were two other persons, a man and a woman. He could swear that he had seen them before. Were they part of the plan? Extractors? The man pushed him forward. 'Five-two-eight, here', he said. 'Sure?' Robert nodded. 'They with us', the man explained nodding to the two other persons. They went inside the room. The other man found a suitcase in the bathroom. 'They tried to numb you', the first man explained. 'Numb me? I'm already dreaming. You mean…a dream in a dream?', Robert asked. The man nodded. If he was already in a dream, why was it so illogical to be in a dream of a dream?, he asked himself. What if they now entered a dream of a dream of a dream? That sounded impossible but extractors did everything to get something out of someone. The van was a dream, too. The shooting was the first protection because the first dream had been his. The shooting had tried to protect him the first time. This time they needed him to believe. The next step was even more dangerous. Robert sighed. He knew what this meant. As soon as he entered the new dream, he did not remember. He had to figure out again that the man pretending to protect him were actually the man trying to extract him. That was so crazy to think about. Robert looked around.

Browning came in. Robert knew at one even before the two men disarm him. 'You…are working with them. You try to open the safe', Robert said. He needed to make the men and the woman believe that he actually believed them. They wanted to make him believe that Browning was bad, that he was the one who tried to extract the code. Robert did not believe anybody right now. Browning explained. Robert did not even bother to listen. He looked around. He felt the inside of his pocket. There was nothing inside. He was dreaming. Obviously. Nobody knew about the ring he always carried. His totem was not there. Nobody knew about it. Feeling his pocket would sign him that he dreamed, when he was in the next dream, if it was not his. He played the inheritor who believed his best friend to be a betrayer. It was not important to him. Except for one person of the world and of all dreams, he did not love or like anybody.

'You can build up a better company than he ever wanted', Browning said. Robert looked shocked. He played perfectly. He began to understand. The extractors were no extractors. They were playing that others would be. Inception, Robert thought. His girlfriend had told him about it. They were trying to plant an idea in his mind. The idea of tearing the company apart. Who would win, then? It was all clear for Robert now. Saito. He would profit from it when Robert would give up the only competition to him.

'Let's go into his subconscious', the first man stepped in front of him. 'He is holding back information. Let's get into his dream and find out which information this is.' 'Okay', Robert said and felt again no ring in his pocket. They all started to plug in to share the dream. Robert felt ready. He knew he was entering the dream of a projection in the dream where he was dreaming. He was going to remember that he was dreaming. Because nobody knew his secret, his love. The ring he carried and which he wanted to give her. It was his assurance if he was kept in a dream, like now.

Robert thought in the last moments before he fell asleep. Actually Browning was a projection of him. When he was dreaming, they were actually entering his dream. They were now about to enter his own subconscious. Now Robert could build up like he wanted. It was his dream. He knew his training, his education. When he felt the ring, he was going to remember, he thought. Feeling the ring meant that it was his dream. When he was going to feel it in his pocket, he would remember it all.

He would need to remember, so that the extractors, actually inceptors, could be caught in his dream. He could find out the combination for himself. He then would hope to wake up again. They did not have that much time, obviously. They were going to wake up. Until then, Robert just had to stay resistant against the extractors. He just should not accept any new ideas.

He fell asleep.


	3. Dream: Hotel

**Author's note: I would really like if you review, please.**

Chapter 3

They gathered. Fischer looked around. 'Eames, you have to get the guards away from mountain station', Cobb said. 'Who's gonna guide Fischer to the station', he asked.

Fischer looked around. 'Me', one of the men said. Fischer still did not know any names. 'You've got to go in there alone', the first man he had met said to Fischer. Fischer and the man who had volunteered started skiing down. Snow everywhere and it was cold, very cold.

They stopped and waited. The guards were enticed away. Robert felt into his pocket. The ring. He remembered. He had to fool them all. He had to get the combination and made the hijackers to kidnappers. Then he just needed them all to wake up from all of the dreams…waking up must be synchronized, he thought. Or it would not work. So he just needed them to believe long enough until they were all going to wake up.

The guards were perfect. They were his guards. It was his mind. His dream. He sent them all out to catch them. Nearly nobody was left in the station. They did not have enough time. They needed a shorter way. He heard a noise. A noise of something big coming nearer. Robert looked around. An avalanche appeared on the mountain. He remembered the van of the first dream. The kick. This must be the kick. That meant there was not a lot of time left. That was good, Robert thought.

They arrived at the access to the ventilation shaft. To get in they bombed their way free. They went through a large tunnel system.

'They are coming toward us as if they knew', Cobb said. The guards knew.

They were Robert's guards. It was his dream. He knew who the enemy was and that it was not Browning or his father. It was the ones who were helping him. And he was helping them to break his own mind.

Cobb and Ariadne entered the station and eliminated all guards in front of them. So simple. So fooled by a dream. Dreams are not simple. They are complex.

Robert still carried his gun. The man whose name he still did not know walked in front of him. They were in the room in front of the safe. 'We're there', he said. 'Then get done. There's a whole army on the way to you', Cobb said impatiently. Fischer smiled. He took his gun and shot the man in front of him in his head.

Limbo or death?, he asked himself and walked on.

'What was that?', Cobb asked, he was in position, as a sniper, he could not see them yet. 'He…is dead. Shot by a guard', Robert lied and walked on. One less. 'I'm in', he said as he saw the room before the safe. He still was in ventilation shaft. Robert went out of the shaft into the hall. There was a big door. Locked. The door to the safe.

Cobb was ready, a sniper, ready to shoot anybody who was coming near to Robert. Anybody, except for her. A second body appeared behind Fischer. It was Mal. 'Fischer, get out of there. It's a trap', Ariadne said. He seemed not to listen. 'Cobb! She…she is not real.' Cobb could not shoot her.

Robert stopped. Of course, he had heard Cobb. He heard someone behind him. He turned around and shot. Looked at her, saw her falling. He went toward her. She was not one of the extractors. She was someone else. Why could Cobb not shoot her? He was standing up there, as sharp shooter, as his guard. Irrelevant, Robert thought and turned to the door to the safe again.

Eames came in. Without hesitating Robert shot him, too. Cobb and Ariadne walked in. They had seen him killing Mal. 'What happened?', Cobb asked angrily when he saw Eames dead on the floor. 'Shot', Robert said and looked at the two. 'By whom?', Ariadne asked. 'By me', Robert said and shot twice, into the heart, of each of them. He watched them fall. Just a dream.

Limbo, he decided.

His girlfriend had shown him how to shoot. How to shoot people in dreams. He had learnt from her, to shoot people in dreams. She did so, too, often, not only in dreams. It was easy to shoot people in dreams.

Either Limbo or waking up.

He knew she shot people in real life.

Death.

He saw Eames, Cobb and Ariadne lying on the ground. Perfect. He still did not know their names. It did not matter. But where was this Chinese guy hiding? Or was he already dead? Robert ran around, searched the nearer surrounding. No sign of him. However, irrelevant, he thought. He felt the ring in his pocket.

He walked toward the door. Typed in two numbers. The door unlocked and opened. It opened to a black room, big. His father lay in his bed. Robert walked toward him. He hated his father. He was glad that he was dead. Now he and his girlfriend could lead the company. Or split it. Destroy it, that was what Saito had wanted. That was why he was here.

He stood at his bed. His father muttered words, barely to understand. 'Disappointed', he said and repeated it. 'I know, dad', Robert said. 'I know that you're disappointed, dad. Because I couldn't be like you.' 'No', his father said. He was dying. 'I am disappointed…because you tried.'

Robert had been so close to forgive. So close to forgive everything. But now, he was the one who was disappointed. Disappointed in his father. His eyes went cold. His girlfriend had trained him. Trained him to close to everybody, not to reveal emotions, to perfectly act. He had to thank her, or he would have never gotten so far.

Saito appeared in the door. Robert did not notice him. Saito was near to dying, but he was there, to finally see his plan work. To finally get the code. All the others had failed. They had been shot. He did not know that it had been Robert himself. That he had figured out and separated between bad and good. He knew who was who.

Robert typed in: five-two-eight-four-nine-one. The safe opened. He saw the documents. He looked around and saw Saito. He smiled. Robert smiled back. He took his gun and shot Saito. In the exact same moment he heard a second shot. A projection of his girlfriend had shot his father. She smiled at him. 'He was disappointed. Because you wanted to be like him', she said coldly. 'He never loved you. He never liked you.' Robert looked back into the safe. Only documents. Just documents. Nothing else. She was right. His father had never loved him.

He stood up, ran to her, into her arms, hugged her. Pulled the ring out of his pocket, showed her.

The kick.

The time detonator in the station went off.

The elevator smashed into the roof.

The van hit the water.

He woke up in the elevator. Opened his eyes.

He woke up in the van. Opened his eyes.

He swam outside, to the shore. It rained. He sat down. He felt inside his pocket. No ring. He was still dreaming. The others were still alive. He had only shot them in the dream. Because of the three-times kick they had also left Limbo.


	4. Reality

Chapter 4

He woke up again. He was in the plane. He looked outside. They were just about to land. He looked around. The other people there were awake, too. They all were alive. The plane landed. The stewardess came in. They all looked a bit distracted. They looked at each other.

Mission failed, Robert thought.

Then he woke up. It was so all of sudden. He looked around. He was back in his apartment. His girlfriend lay next to him. She smiled. They both disconnected each other from dream sharing. Then they walked over to the six men lying on the floor beside them. They were still dreaming, captured in the dreams. 'That happens to extractor when they want to plant and not extract', Robert murmured.

His girlfriend shot each of them, all six. No Limbo, no waking up. He felt into his pocket. He felt the ring. He pulled it out.

The dream had collapsed.


End file.
